I have to say I knew very little about the circular economy until I met Peter Desmond (pictured above), through events at the Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce. He made this the subject of his Masters in Globalisation, Business and Development at the University of Sussex and is now leading the Brighton & Hove Circular Economy Club network.

So, what is it?

In short, a circular economy can be described an ‘alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.’ (Wrap's definition)

One of the challenges about green and sustainability agendas is that they are sometimes seeking to completely change the way we run our economies by often in utopian dreams or untested theories.

In contrast, what I see with circular economists (if they like being called that) is that they fully integrate sustainability and reducing waste into an existing effective working economy. It is about making the current economic system better rather than rejecting it completely.

Based on reality

What I liked about last night’s event was the optimism that things could be better, and that real-life examples taking place in my city, country and globally as I write. Indeed, that was the point of the mapping event: to see what was out there. This is part of a wider global mapping week taking place and Brighton & Hove will be contributing to research in this area.

The challenge with introducing new concept such as the circular economy is in the communication. Having been created by economists and academics, the language is sometimes dry and technical, all about processes, systems and methods.

Unpacking what it is

So, what was refreshing was the introduction from Steve Creed of Wrap, an organisation that works with governments, businesses and communities to deliver practical solutions to improve resource efficiency. He asked three simple questions to assess whether a business fits the circular economy model:

How does it reduce the amount of resources?

How does it maximise use of resources?

Does it increase the value of the resources?

As a good example he considered whether Real Junk Food Project, who had just fed the event's attendees with some lovely curry, beans and rice, was truly part of the circular economy. It's business model is to take ‘intercepted’ food destined for land fill and use it to feed people who need it, on a ‘pay as you feel’ basis.

So, does it work as a circular business? People eating this food are shifting from using new food resources to use these. It maximises the resources which had already been destined to be wasted and actually reduces further costs more in terms of transportation and destruction. The value of these resources in increased both economically in that the ‘pay as feel’ brings economic value. However, much more importantly, giving significant social value in feeding those who are on low or no income with nutritious well-cooked food. To Steve, it was a strong example of the principles of the circular economy in action.

A simple story can make the difference

Never did I think as I was eating Real Junk Food’s meal that I was partaking in an effective social and economic model described as the circular economy. And that seems to me to be the challenge. How do we explain the complexity of the circular economy in a way that people who are not economists, researchers or theorists understand it?

I would suggest by simple stories of input and impact like the Real Junk Food Project is a good start. It is real, it is impactful and it is happening in cities across the UK as we read this. What better way to change attitudes, behaviours and therefore priorities than a clear story.

As a result of Wednesday's event, I have just signed up to the Circular Economy Club, which is free to join. It breathes some optimism and positive real action that the world can practically run on better lines. I encourage readers of this blog to get involved as well.

He opened his session by asking us to choose between hearing from an astronomer who can see the moon and stars from a distance and has dedicated their life to becoming an expert, and an astronaut, who had actually been on the moon. Who would we want to hear from? Well of course the astronaut with his experience will be more interesting, compared with an expert looking far from a telescope.

His point is that personal experience is challenging accepted expertise. Experts may have a professional and academic knowledge of complex matters of economics, medicine and society, but that does not mean they are hearing or understanding what is happening at a personal level.

Do the experts really know?

In trying to understand recent surprises that experts have not predicted, such as Trump, Brexit, Corbyn and Leicester City, does customer experience or choice may be a better prediction of expectations?

The rise of social media and people sharing their views more readily and easily means experience is starting to win. No more are the experts just trusted. In Jeremy’s view one phrase captured to mood of the whole Brexit debate (and it wasn’t the one about expert from Michael Gove): “One listener said: ‘The experts built the Titanic’ - those words took us out of the EU. If you listened to Radio 4, you could not see it coming; listen to Radio 2 and you knew it was coming."

Anecdotes are not always evidence

There is a particular challenge with anecdote skew. He had a discussion on his show about statins. A renowned academic presented evidence based on experience of 7000 patients that suggested statins worked. One caller rang in stating very embarrassing physical and digestive issues that his mother had, which they put down to the statins and the debate was over. Of course, we will never know whether she might have had some other condition which might have caused this, but the perception stuck. This happens every day on so many issues.

Less time to focus

Add to this that due to mobiles and social media, people’s attention span is getting shorter, then spending 11 minutes debating the effectiveness of statins is going to be difficult, let alone a complex issue like the state of the NHS.

For experts, this is a challenging time. With wider sources of information, people can take control and bring in their own experience and this can be a good thing for democratising debate, but there needs to be a balance

Experts need to make the case

For me, personal experience is strong but not enough. Expertise is needed, but experts need to train themselves to be at their best all the time, to continue learning and not be defensive when personal experience shows other results to theirs.

I also feel that the power of the anecdote, the personal experience of the person, be they right or wrong, needs to be respected, but politely challenged. You can bring the respect of sensible rational debate to this, if experts are prepared to use case studies of real people, rather than relying on statistics. It’s not the 7,000 statin users that wins the day, it is the strong case studies of 10 or five or even one, who said their life has been positively changed as a result.

A good case study also supports a clear message of cause and effect, of process, it shows the lived experience of the issue being discussed and makes the experts case stronger. This isn’t dumbing down the message, but making it lived based on real experience.

The experts are still needed, but they need to work harder, to communicate their view.

And by the way, experts can also have experience: as a friend said to me today, the astronauts are real experts, they just happen to been to the moon as well.

Back in 2009, I oversaw marketing at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), and was thinking about how we could raise our profile. One afternoon I met Cara Courage, an inspirational arts practitioner who asked me if we wanted to be involved in a project called the Creative Campus Initiative, delivering innovative community art projects as part of the Cultural Olympiad for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. She asked me what we could offer: “We’re a medical school... “I said, a silence filled the air for a moment, “...”but we do have an MRI scanner… and a student who is a prospective Triathlon candidate.” Somehow the conversation ended with “Perhaps we could scan them and see how their toned bodies look”.

Little did I know that this would be the first step in a journey into the unknown. I learnt so many new things: to curate exhibitions, to promote and arrange tours, to wrestle with paperwork and ethics committees to get humans in physical perfection to be placed under an MRI scanner for art as much as education.

The project snowballed. There was a very tight timescale, all achieved in three months, on top of my usual challenging workload. Working with a local photographer, James Lewis, we profiled prospective athletes as they trained and under MRI. This included multi-gold medallist paralympic cyclist Darren Kenny. Also while James snapped and I watched, weightlifter Halil Zorba lifted weights equal to the British record in his class!

I had an ambitious six-month tour of local hospitals and education venues in 2010. We had a fantastic interactive launch Fringe event, delivered with aplomb with the inspirational Professor of Anatomy Darrell Evans and Chelsea School sports science specialist Dr Gary Brickley. We gained BBC news coverage on South Today. As a result, we were awarded an Inspired by 2012 Marque for our significant contribution to the Cultural Olympiad. In 2012, we produced a new exhibition, which had a seven-week residency at the Jubilee Library through both Games, giving BSMS unprecedented consistent profile in the community.

The impact of this was a game-changer in BSMS seeing what it could do in terms of community. In 2014, just before I left, it pitched a medical discussion panel event to the Brighton Festival in 2014, which I am glad to see is now a regular fixture. The exhibition changed even the way we designed our prospectus cover, with Todd Leckie recreating his poster image for our 2012 prospectus. This publication itself won a HEIST Higher Education Marketing Award in 2012, as applications rose that year by 15%.

What did I learn from this project? That sometimes you have to break the mould and do something different. Plans and strategies are great, but sometimes an unexpected opportunity is worth taking a leap of faith for. It was hard work, it was at sometimes worryingly tense, but then any leap into the unknown is. For me, it was one of the best projects I have ever done.

The human need to collect and solve challenges can be used by small businesses to raise their profile even if the inspiration is from large public art displays.

If you are looking for an example of innovative fundraising and profile building, you cannot go further than a campaign last autumn run by a Sussex-based Sussex Martlets charity which raised £337,000 in one night through an auction.

Not a bad night's work, but what were they auctioning? Nothing more than giant-sized fibreglass interpretations of Raymond Briggs’ Snowdog, the auction finale of an two-month campaign of public art and events that had dominated Brighton & Hove late last year.

There is no doubt that significant investment, and therefore risk, was put in to make this a success. After all, 44 fibreglass Snowdogs and a sand sculpture, each individually designed by an artist and sponsored by a local business or organisation, and placed at a wide number of locations across the city would take some significant logistics and planning, but the results were impressive.

I must say I wasn't sure when I saw the first couple of dogs around Brighton's Preston Park and the Duke of York’s Cinema. But a chance meeting at the Brighton Chamber of Commerce Summit with their project leader change my mind. She explained how the sense of loss in the story of the Snowman/ Snowdog chimed with their work around hospice care, and I got to see how it fitted with their profile.

Then I saw the map of the 45 dogs dotted from the Amex to central Brighton to Hove Lagoon and Hove Park, I saw the scale of the project and suddenly that collector’s bug started in me.

From the Panini Football '86 sticker album.

Thirty-one years ago, my collecting bug was like most boys - Panini Football Stickers - and a determined need to find David Preece of Luton Town to finish my collection. You see, there is a human need to collect sets of things, it may be thimbles, vinyl records, books, but also people like to collect locations. Every year groups try to visit every London Underground station in one day. I once knew someone who said he visited McDonalds in every place he visited (rather dull). This same spirit of going on a journey, to seek and find, had come again, so I decided I would visit all 45 in one day by foot.

It was a long day - taking me 9 hours and 15 minutes starting at the Amex Stadium in the East walking to the Marina then Kemptown, Queen's Park, Preston Park, central Brighton, Seven Dials, Hove Lagoon and Hove Park. My rough calculation is that it was 19.5 miles, but since I had to walk a mile to my bus to the Amex it was over 20. I was tired but there was a sense of achievement. My wife and daughter managed to walk 20 the next weekend and we picked up another 20 as as family before they were taken in for their final show. In the end, through generous contributions of friends and family, we raised a nice sum for the Martlets.

Somewhat tired at Snowdog 45 in Hove Park (9 hrs and 15 minutes after I started).

What I found interesting, is that before this, I knew a little about the Martlets Hospice but I had never thought of fundraising for them. This impressive display of public art and a challenge to visit them all took me to new boundaries and I understand I was not alone. Some keen cross country runners ran the route, others cycled, and some joyfully took eight weeks to visit them all - we don't all need to rush you know. There was even an app which linked in with local businesses offering deals and value for the visitor which VisitBrighton sponsored, adding more profile, gaining 8,500 downloads and 180,000 QR code clicks. As a result, Martlets’ profile has risen significantly, and in some ways they can say they have written a page into the history of the city.

Of course, the ultimate collection is owning one, and many congratulations to their new generousowners who put their hands in the pockets or business bank balances to buy one. My eagle-eyed son noticed that my favourite one based on Blue Willow pottery is now in the reception of Bright Blue Wealth Coastal in Kensington Street. But even this was well thought out, with porcelain models on some, t-shirts and books at pocket money prices, so everyone would have a souvenir.

Yes, this was a big budget exercise, beyond the abilities of most small charities and organisations, but that doesn't mean smaller firms cannot learn from this campaign.

Is there an innovative way you can raise profile and engage with local businesses, making them feel part of a club? Maybe you can present your services in the form of a set of collectable postcards? Or you can engage with your customer to interact with you by setting them a challenge to learn more about what you do? Even advertise in a limited number of locations with thought provoking questions encouraging customers to seek out the other adverts and find the answers like a treasure hunt.

This might seem light and unbusinesslike, But before this campaign would you have thought that giant fibreglass Snowdogs would have any link with hospice care? It captured the imagination. By doing the same with your customer, donor or service user, by producing something creative and distinctive, you might well see profile and interest in your company increase.

I was drawn to the London Metro newspaper a couple of weeks ago by the impressive double-sided cover advert profiling the new Asda Christmas campaign, which has taken the Christmas dinner to a new perspective, quite literally. Some say a picture can tell a thousand words, well this portrays 27 diners and their dinners from an angel on a Christmas tree perspective.

Outside front cover, making full use of every inch of the page

Look closely and you will see that not each plate is the same. The redheaded lady bottom left, who clearly loves the Brussels sprouts, next to the grandma who doesn’t seem to be eating vegetables at all, on the other side an empty chair since the boy has left his laden plate in favour of a toy. Meanwhile a pregnant Mum holds her bump contentedly while contemplating another plateful. A grandfather sleeps his meal off. While the all the famous stereotypes are there, but they have been presented in a totally different way.

I actually did not notice that it was a fold around until a little later, I was more interested in the validation quotes and marques.

It carries on inside, even down the motherly hostess bringing food to the table and the additional circle table on the end over flowing with calorific cakes and delicacies.

Christmas must be a difficult time for the supermarkets, how do you show off your wares without looking the same? Those hackneyed catalogues of Christmas hampers look dated, the traditional laden table with white tablecloths look old fashioned, and images of children or grandmas eating mince pies, just too familiar.

Of course this campaign displays the wide range of food, it’s a supermarket after all, but it allows a story to be told, or at least allows your imagination to interact and follow the link between the guests, or just wonder at the range of food. You feel you could be there.

What was equally impressive that on the same day, the display screen at Brighton Station showed the same advert with an arrow moving around showing the items and prices and you get the full spread on their website, which shows how you can be consistent across all formats.

The whole story - the digital version of the full spread on their website

What made it more impressive is that it was validated with a nice quote from Gillian Carter of the BBC Good Food Magazine Christmas Taste Awards, and a series of award marques. It is one thing to present the food beautifully, another to get that neutral external validation.

Of course the campaign was beyond the budgets of small business and organisations, but you can learn for their philosophy. How can you bring a different perspective to the products or services you produce? How can you present the interaction of your products or services with the customer? How can you weave in the external validation, be it your customer or influencer? Maybe you can produce your own visual feast to inspire interaction, engagement and sales.

There has never been a better time to sell products as a small business, but showing authenticity and great customer service will give you a distinction over your larger rivals.

I had given it my best shot, changed the needle, even taken it back to where I had bought it, who, bearing in mind it was two years out of warranty, still checked it for me, but to no avail. It was now making a strange noise, particularly on the quiet tracks. It was time for a new record turntable.

In these days of MP3s, IPods and Spotify it seems strange to talk about a technology that has been around in some similar form since the late 1870s, but I have always loved the tactile nature of vinyl. It is like you are holding history in your hand and when I think that some of my records are over 50 years old, like books, they have aged well. Somehow CDs don’t have the same appeal, perhaps because the oldest ones are not yet 30. Being a digital immigrant when it comes to music, I have gone through my MP3 stage (useful to run to) and come out the other side.

So my search for a new turntable began, and the process of finding one took me on a customer journey that was a cross-section of past and present, old and new, analogue and digital. I feel that anyone running a small business can learn from this customer journey.

So where do you search when you want something new? Well of course Google is the obvious start, but you need to be careful where you get your advice from. Reputation is everything and there is a lot of misinformation out there. I ended up viewing What Hi-Fi’s best turntables page. Twenty years ago, I would have needed to go to my local newsagent or even a trip to a WHSmiths to buy the magazine, but now it is there, at a touch away on the tablet.

I decided on a Rega RP1. I could easily see professional reviews and those of purchasers and with What Hi-Fi being an established information brand in this area, I had the confidence that it was a reliable source. I am not a Hi-Fi-head, I know little about the technology and had not heard of Rega before I viewed What Hi-Fi. Which reminded me of the power of finding and using influencers. It is no good having a great product or service if no one can find it. For the influencers to review you, you need to have a good product and service and a good package to offer either you as seller or buyer. They have to believe in what you offer.

Returning to Google to purchase this turntable, I came up with two sellers: Amazon and Harrow Audio. Now nearly everyone knows Amazon, but I suspect few of you have heard of Harrow Audio. Twenty years ago, still living in my home town, it was through their shopfront in Springfield Road that I gazed at extraordinarily beautiful but very expensive Hi-Fi equipment. Never in my dreams did I ever think that I would purchase from there, then or even this year. But the power of internet brought that little shop in central Harrow to me.

What brought me there was of course the quality of the turntable against my budget, but the fact that a smaller specialist supplier could compete shows good business sense by Rega - they seem to sell only though small specialist dealers across the UK. And it got me thinking about the power that the internet now has for small businesses like Harrow Audio. Twenty years ago, I imagine their clientele was all north west London, maybe Hertfordshire. Today, with some careful use of keywords, the world is open to them.

Google has made it in some ways a level playing-field. If you are selling goods now, it doesn’t matter where you sell them from, the world will come to you, but that is not enough.

When I rang up to run through the specs of my potential purchase, I had all my questions answered confidently, concisely and without any pushy sales talk. The advantages and disadvantages were laid straight, and I was left to make my choice. I pondered a little while, as I do, and a short-time later was prepared to order online, but then decided to call, book over the phone, which actually was much swifter than online booking and had the benefit of conversation as well. Which led to another thought: it is not enough to have a good internet presence if you don’t follow through with excellent customer experience.

The conversation went beyond the purchase and into the business. Ten years ago Harrow Audio’s focus was on home cinema, but in the last five years there has been a steady return to vinyl with them selling more and more of these turntables. What could have caused this trend?

Well undoubtedly, vinyl has a different quality to CDs and MP3s. I am not saying better, but I do prefer it. CDs and MP3s have all the remastered smoothness delivered through a series of 0s and 1s, but lack the crackle that only diamond and carbon on plastic can give. Now today in our digital world there is even an app that will put the crackle back into your MP3s, which tells you about demand for authenticity, though through the most inauthentic way possible. Which got me thinking about how important authenticity is. Why buy an app to put fake crackle in when you can have the original?

While MP3s have transformed the way we buy and listen to music, never before has so much music been so easily available, yet something has been lost. The concept of an album has been replaced with individual tracks, and yet the great sets of the truly classic music (that which is still played 20, 30, 50 years later) are presented in the form of an album.

In the summer, large crowds in Hyde Park, saw two famous albums performed live with Carole King singing Tapestry and Stevie Wonder playing Songs in the Key of Life. Down in Brighton in September, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys played the whole of Pet Sounds. Clearly, there is still a demand for complete albums of music.

Why is this? I believe they tell a story. I think small businesses and organisations can learn from the revival of vinyl and of turntables. People still want tactile items they can show hold and store, they want items that have authenticity, they want reality, and they love a story.

In my case the purchase has been as good as the customer experience - I am listening to music from it as I finish writing this piece. I am happy to say that it was a great decision. I once met a very successful salesman who said that he did not sell things, he just helped the customer make the right decision. Well that is what happened to me, and I am more appreciative of the service I received and so mention it here, which now adds to the supplier's customer service story.

And it is this reality, the story that no one else can tell about your business or organisation, that brings distinctiveness and authenticity, and as the return of vinyl has shown, that means a lot to people.

By telling the story of your business, or of your customers experience, through text, photography and video, you show your distinctiveness, and that may lead to better sales. Digital is important in getting you there, but don’t forget the attraction of analogue - the reality of needle on groove and finding a new and creative way of being distinctive. As the legendary Billy Preston said “Will it go round in circles... or will it fly high like a bird in the sky?”

Harrow Audio... just a few minutes walk from Harrow on the Hill Station.

I have been spending the last two years telling anyone who visits me in Brighton & Hove about an innovative new attraction. For short-hand I have described this as a 'Polo mint on a stick', but no longer do I need to do so since today, the British Airways i360, which at 450ft is the tallest viewing platform in the world, has opened.